


To the Top

by Knusperkeks



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, let's play 'spot the Borderlands-reference', post episode 4, slow build-ish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-11
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-05-01 03:27:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5190425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knusperkeks/pseuds/Knusperkeks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys had rejected Jack's offer to rule Hyperion with him. Turns out, that was a stupid ass decision. Because now, the king is back - back in his old body and vowing to make Rhys' life a living hell.</p><p> </p><p>...but what happens when Rhys is the only one that can save Helios?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is set post episode 4 and totally ignores all of episode 5.

 

 

Oh no. What has he done? He just doomed all of Pandora.  
  
Rhys sat in Jack's chair, and even the dopamine rushing through his system – because of the chair – wasn’t enough to free him of the horrible feeling trickling through his body. He felt sick, which was probably understandable. The only logical reaction to bringing the most dangerous man on all of Pandora back to life, and letting him loose to finish the work he had started.  
  
He watched the monitors, the connection device still locked into his neural port. He tried to get his hands free for what had to be the fiftieth time since Jack’s face had disappeared from the screens, announcing that he had to break in his "sweet new body". His ECHO eye provided him with the information that more than three hours had passed. Rhys was getting more anxious by the minute, side eying everything in the room, scanning it multiple times to ensure that nothing would suddenly turn into a device that could kill in more ways than he could imagine. It was Jack’s office after all; no one could blame him for worrying. But nothing happened. There wasn’t a single movement in the entire room, except for the slow flowing of the waterfalls. Under different circumstances he would have found that soothing, but here and now wasn’t one of those situations.  
  
More minutes passed by. While trying to undo the shackles from the chair once again, or hack the system, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something really terrible was about to happen. Jack was never the type to stay quiet for long periods of time. This could only end really, _really_ , badly. The type of really bad that would have his body parts floating around in space. Oh god, he was gonna end up like Henderson, wasn’t he? And he just got his new outfit! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find pants that look good and fit? Sometimes these long legs were a curse. He even got the stripes matching with his shirt and -  
  
Rhys was ripped out of his musing by the monitors switching on again. They had cut off two hours ago; the whole station now seemed to be rebooting itself. That can’t be a good sign. He watched the screens flicker for a while, followed by static, before showing the normal screens with the logo from Hyperion. Rhys settled down again after nothing sinister seemed to happen.  
  
He watched the rotating H on the screen of Jacks desk, deciding to give his escape another try. He wished Dumpy was still working, but a small EMP-like device in the chair had crushed him during his second escape attempt. Should he get out of this alive, he would fix him.  
  
When the door made a beeping sound his head whipped up. The noise had been so quiet that most people would have missed it, but Rhys wasn’t "most people", thank you kindly, and he was on heightened alert. There was no way he would miss a single dust particle from falling, let alone not hear a door beep. He stared at the door with wasted intensity, as if he could somehow convince his ECHO eye to develop laser vision. That would have actually been helpful.  
  
An agonizingly slow minute progressed. Rhys nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a crash, followed by the door sliding open. He lost his ability to breathe.  
Strolling through the door came none other than Handsome Jack himself.  
  
"Well, I guess we have to get that fixed."  
  
Rhys stared at Jack while he slowly approached the desk, stretching his limbs and rolling his head from side to side.  
  
"God, it’s nice to move again!" He slowly came to a halt in front of the desk, leaning his head from one should to the other, for one last time, before looking at Rhys.  
  
"Rhysie!" He hollered, feigning surprised, as if he had only just noticed that Rhys was sitting there. "So good to see you’re still with us. I really hope the room-service was to your liking."  
  
Rhys brain had shut down all functions, his face perfectly displaying the emptiness inside. _How was this possible?!_ He had expected to see some kind of loader bot to waltz through that door with a holographic head of Jack projected on top… or something like that. What he definitely hadn’t expected was to be faced with what seemed to be Jack’s _real_ body.  
  
“I know that I have that effect on people, cupcake, but I thought you would be used to it by now. Well, as much as you can possibly get used to perfection like that. But it would be awfully nice if you could regain some composure over the muscles in your face and stopped gawking at me like a hormonal teen at a boyband-concert.”  
  
Feeling the need to keep at least a bit of his dignity, Rhys shut his mouth and tried to get his Hyperion-face in place. He had dealt with Jack before. He could do it again. Even if it only had been a projection then, it had been frightening. Having to face Jack in person, however… Yeah, that was way worse. Downright terrifying probably described it best. Being in a room, alone, with the reincarnation of Handsome-goddamn-Jack, after you just denied his offer to take over Hyperion with him, most likely wasn’t the best way to secure your survival. He was so dead.  
  
After Jack still got no response from Rhys he crossed his arm over his chest and started to walk around the desk to Rhys’ left side, enjoying how he started to squirm in his seat.  
  
“You know. Rejecting me - not the smartest move. Took some balls, I’ll give you that. But smart? Absolutely not.” He uncrossed his arms and began to trace the edge of the desk with his hand while getting closer to the chair. “Did you really think you would get away with this? Away from _ME_? And I thought a big fan like yourself would know that there is no getting away from Handsome Jack.”  
  
Rhys stared at Jack in horror while he made his way over to the chair. His heart skipped several beats when Jack leaned down; gripping the arm rest with his left hand and nearly ripping the material in the process. Rhys jumped slightly, as much as the restraints holding him would allow. Using his right hand, Jack stroked around Rhys’ neural port gently, before slowly tracing a line down his face, over his cheekbone, before grabbing his chin and forcing him to meet Jacks eyes. Rhys gulped. They were close enough that he could feel Jacks breath on his lips.  
  
“You’re _mine_ now, Rhys. You will spend the rest of your miserable life at Hyperion – with me. And I will make sure it will be a living hell.”

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw a post in the Rhack-tag on tumblr, where someone complained that in a lot of fanfiction most sentences start with a name. (Jack did that... Rhys did that... Jack did that...)  
> I felt adressed so I tried my best and I hope I did better with this chapter. Please bear with me, english isn't my native language and I'm still trying to figure out how this works...
> 
> Anyways, on to round #2~

 

 

“But _how_?” It was just driving him crazy, he had to know; even if it got him one step closer to being air-locked.

“If you must know, which you don’t, actually, but I never getting tired of saying that: I’m _Handsome Jack_. There is no one on this pitiful planet that would get even close to stopping me.” Lounging in the chair across from Rhys, his feet kicked up on the desk, he spread his arms in a wide gesture to underline the meaning of his words.

_Oh god, here we go again._ It wasn’t humanly possible to not roll his eyes at that. “Seriously, if you’re gonna throw me down your trapdoor or shove me out into space you can at least tell me how it is you’re sitting there. And I don’t mean you, I mean _you_ , as in the real you as in – are you some kind of zombie?!”  
Okay, now Jack was the one rolling his eyes before staring at Rhys, with an annoyed expression and raised eyebrow. Rhys wouldn’t go down without a fight, so he stared right back.

Staring. He could do that.

Jack continued to match his glare, but he won’t win this round.

Continued staring. Nope, that’s wasn’t awkward at all.

Why isn’t he moving? Like, at all?

Alright – enough. Rhys broke the gaze, having the feeling that with every second he spent staring at Jack his life expectancy got shortened. Thankfully, Jack started talking. Wow, never thought he’d think that Jack talking could be a good thing.

“I have an army of nerds working for me. Nerds that have the most advanced technology and all the files from that weirdo…. Naka…moto…something…”

“Nakayama?” Rhys provided helpfully.

“Yeah, yeah. That guy. Did you really think there was even the slightest chance they wouldn’t bring me back?”

“But you were shot! In the head! By five vault hunters!” Saying that – really stupid. But of course that only occurred to him now, when it was already said. He really had to work on his brain-to-mouth filter. Hindsight is a bitch.

Jack executes a glare that could melt metal, aimed directly at Rhys. Huh, looks like he was working on laser-vision, too! Rhys was ripped out this thought when Jack stood up and crashed his fist on the table, causing it to shake and the framed picture to fall over.

“Don’t push it, Rhysie.” He threatened, but continued. “Yes, I was. See? It took five vault hunters to take me down. But I won’t stay down if I freaking own the company that builds New-U-Stations. You would be able to see a whole goddamn lot of people floating by my window right now if they hadn’t managed to fix a simple bullet hole. Sure, it took some work to download my conscious back into my brain, but hey, Tokoyama’s obsessiveness was of use to me after all! I knew there was a reason I didn’t shoot that weirdo in the head after he let Claptrap spray ‘ _art_ ’ on the wall right in front of my office.”

That actually made sense. But didn’t these stations bring back the vault hunters, too? He probably shouldn’t mention that to Jack right now. Or ever.

“Well then, cupcake, let’s get going. Wouldn’t want you to miss your appointment with certain death.” Jack started walking towards Rhys, slowing down to pick up the frame and putting it back at its usual spot.

“Screw you, Jack. I’m not playing your minion any longer! I have helped you all this time, even letting you into my subsystem, which I’m really regretting right now. So you can take all the devious plans you came up with and shove them up your resurrected ass!” Jack stopped at that, looking as surprised as Rhys was with himself over what he said. But there was a time where you had to man up and decide what your life would be like – and for Rhys, that time was now.

The surprised look on Jack’s face was quickly replaced with a cunning grin before he let out a small laugh and continued his way over, pointing his right index finger at Rhys. “Oh-oh-oh, you’ve got guts, kiddo.” Using his foot he turned the chair until they were facing each other, crashing his hands down on the armrests and leaning forward into Rhys’ space, their faces mere inches apart, with Jack’s eyes capturing Rhys’. “Too bad I’m gonna rip them out.”

Rhys let out a small squeal as the restraints snapped open, folding back into the chair with a loud click; he fully intended to deny that squealing debacle later. Relieved to be able to move his arms again, Rhys started rubbing at his left wrist.  
Standing up straight, Jack continued. “You see, I have three really compelling arguments that will surely help you come to the right decision. Spoiler alert: you’re gonna beg me to do all of the nice things I have thought up for you. It’s gonna be so awesome.”

Realizing what Jack meant, Rhys could only let out a small “No…”

“No need to worry Rhysie, your little friends are save with me. I even found your buddy Vaughn.” Savoring the look of pure terror on Rhys’ face, Jack pulled up a video feed on the screen on his desk. It showed Vaughn sitting in a shuttle, flanked by Hyperion guards. “See? I’m flying him in right now. Just for you.”

The feed of a captured Vaughn, with a terrified expression on his face, cut off abruptly. Rhys turned to glare at Jack.

“Come on, I’m not heartless. You’ll see Vaughn again. Maybe not all of him at once, but you’ll be able to put the pieces together, I’m sure.”

Shooting up from the chair, Rhys raised his mechanical arm, planning on punching that smug smirk off of Jack’s face. He was stopped midair, starring helplessly at his unmoving arm, before noticing the remote in Jack’s hand.

“Always the same mistakes.” He pressed a few buttons, forcing Rhys’ arm down and to hang limply at his side. Jack moved closer, knowing that Rhys was no threat as long as he had no control over his cybernetics.

“Cut the hero-bullshit, cupcake. If you keep this up, your buddies will be floating outside of this window _really_ soon, and I’ll, personally, make sure that Gortys knows that they’re _not_ sleeping.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Walking in front of two guards Rhys was glad Jack didn’t send him through the short-cut in form of his trap door to get to the cells. You always gotta look at the bright side. Even if the bright side wasn’t bright at all, but only pitch black with a single ray of light trying to fight its way through before ending in a horrible death. Which, coincidentally, was exactly how his friends would end up, if Rhys didn’t do what Jack asked of him.

They followed the familiar path down to the prison level, only this time he hadn’t his Vas-guise on and was totally screwed. The guards shoved him into a cell at the end of the row, causing him to fall on his knees, but when he looked up he saw the one good thing that had happened to him that day.

“Vaughn!” He flung himself at his best friend and embraced him in a crushing hug. “It’s so good to see you! Okay, no, it’s horrible that you’re here, but I’m happy you’re here, even if it would be better if you were somewhere else.” Slowly letting go of Vaughn, he sat back down, hugging his legs and bringing them to his chest before letting his head fall on his knees.

Vaughn tried to calm him down, “Don’t worry, bro. We’ll get out of this – somehow.”

“Not this time. I screwed up, Vaughn. I thoroughly screwed up.”

“As if that’s a newsflash.” Rhys’ head snapped up and he turned around to the source of the familiar voice, spotting Fiona and Sasha in the cell on the other side of the corridor. Fiona was standing behind the barrier with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring daggers at him, while Sasha sat on the side leaning against the wall….also glaring at him. Okay then, they were both mad at him. Great. “What were you thinking, Rhys? Trusting the king of the psychopaths?”

“I wasn’t thinking anything…”

“Color me surprised.”

“Would you please let me finish?” Rhys got up to stand at the barrier of his cell, turning so all three of his friends could hear him. After Fiona shrugged he continued. “Jack had offered me to rule Hyperion – with him. But I _denied_.” He sent a pointed look at Fiona, who looked on with an unimpressed expression. “He captured me, tied me to his chair, and used the control he had over my cybernetic arm to plunge a device into my neural port that downloaded him onto Helios.” At this point he was actually glad he had told Fiona and Sasha everything about Jack before the mission, otherwise he would have a lot of explaining to do now.

Unfortunately, Fiona was having none of his excuse. “He was only able to do that, because you let him take control over your system!”

“What? How do you know that?” He had never told her that he let Jack into his subsystem at the Atlas facility.

“I didn’t, but I do now. I had a hunch that it wasn’t you who was controlling those turrets.”

Mentally kicking himself, he continued to fight the lost battle. “It seemed like the right idea at the time! He had a plan – plain and simple!”

“I had a plan! It wasn’t the greatest plan, sure, but it was better than trusting Handsome Jack.”

“Being able to control the facility seemed like the way to go!”

“You chose Jack because you’re an idiot. There’s no other explanation for it.”

“Would you two stop already?!” Vaughn intervened. “It’s no use arguing _why_ we’re here; we should focus on _getting out_ of here.”

Rhys and Fiona glared at each other one last time, before Fiona huffed and started to walk small circles in their cell. “Fair point. But there are a few problems. We’re being monitored 24/7, and even if we magically managed to get out of this cell, we’re still in space. They got our caravan and we have no way out of here.”

“I actually agree with her on that.” Rhys grudgingly agreed.

“Oh, I thank you for the vote of confidence.” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. “I hate to break it to you, but it looks like we’re stuck here for a while. Rhys, you’re the one who got us into this mess, so how about you come up with a plan that would actually help us for once?”

“Fiona stop it! We’re all in this together.” Vaughn spoke up to support his best friend, who leaned against the wall before sliding down into a sitting position, leaning his head back in resignation.

“I know. I’m sorry. I just hate being this helpless, like a bird trapped in a cage. There must be something we can do.” Resuming her walk, she started biting on her bottom lip in thought.

“Actually, there is.” Rhys said, Fiona and Vaughn starting to look at him expectantly, Sasha seeming completely disinterested in the whole conversation. “Jack forces me to work for him. I don’t know what or when or where. But if I get the chance to get to a computer I may have a chance to figure something out.”

“He’s forcing you to work for him? That doesn’t sound good, bro.” The worried tone in Vaughn’s voice made Rhys want to reassure him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make it. We survived on Pandora, after all.” Vaughn gladly bumped his own fist against the one Rhys held out, smiling fondly at his best friend.

“Yeah, barely. And only for a few days.” Fiona just had to bring that up. “Just promise to be careful, Rhys. It’s Handsome Jack you’re dealing with. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

“Will do, thanks Fiona.” Flashing her a smile, he got up and put his fist against the barrier of the cell, she only raised her eyebrows in response. “Come on, Fiona. Cell-fist. Come oooooonnnn, do it.”

She let out one of her rare laughs before raising her own fist, bumping it against the barrier.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

 

When Rhys woke up the next morning, his body felt like a colossal cramp. The cells they had been stashed in were completely empty, except for a toilet and sink in a corner, thankfully hidden from sight. They had to sleep on the cold, hard, metal floor. Hyperion definitely knew how to treat their prisoners. However, these cells looked almost knew, so Rhys could only guess that most people up here were dead before they even got a chance to see the inside of one of those. Lucky bastards.

Every part of his body hurt and he decided to just keep lying on his back, not moving a muscle. On the other end of the cell Vaughn let out a long groan before trying to stand up.

“Morning.”

“Is it? I’m not even sure if it is. We don’t have windows here, or a clock for that matter. They took away my Atlasio! Can you believe that?” Vaughn started to rub his back with an annoyed huff, before switching to stretching his limbs.

“I suppose we should be thankful that was all they took.” Following Vaughn’s example Rhys stood up on shaky legs, letting out a curse under his breath when his muscles seemed to be keen on making his life even more miserable.

“Yeah, guess you’re right. Still, even the ground on Pandora is more comfortable. I even had a bed at the Dome.” A small smile crept over Vaughn’s face before he let out a sigh.

“Speaking of which, what happened to the crazy scientist? He saved you from Vallory?”

“Yeah. He came with some kind of vehicle he’d developed and fetched me as I was running from Vallory’s goons. He took me back to the Dome and we tried to come up with a plan to help you, but then, when we tried to contact you, we discovered that you went to Helios. So there was no way to get you out. We concentrated on establishing a connection with your ECHO, but it seems that was how Hyperion found us. We saw the moon shots that crashed down outside the Dome, so we had a little head start. Didn’t do us much good, though, but I think Cassius managed to get away. They took all the Atlas tech they could find, as well as anything valuable so I’m not sure if he can survive without all of that. God, I hope we haven’t ruined the poor man’s life. It was bad enough that we dragged Athena into there, good thing Fiona stepped up to save him. Who knows what would have happened to me if he hadn’t come.” Vaughn had moved over to the sink during his story, leaning down to wash his face.

“I don’t think Vallory would have killed you. They probably would have taken you hostage to use as leverage against me. It was still nice to know you were safe, at least for a while.” Flashing his best friend a small smile, he switched places with him at the sink, washing his face before trying to get his hair back into its usual style.

The door to the cell block was opened and they heard the footsteps of two soldiers approaching their cells. One moved over to Fiona’s and Sasha’s cell, startling them awake with a shout before opening a small part of the barrier at the bottom, where he shoved a tablet with food through. The other erased the barrier to Rhys’s and Vaughn’s cell completely, shoving a tablet into Vaughn’s arms before pointing at Rhys. “You, come with us.”

“What? Don’t I get anything to eat?” Crossing his arms over his chest, Rhys put on the best unimpressed look he could muster. There was no chance he would go down without a fight, especially considering that standing up to two guards wasn’t as horrifying as facing Jack.

“You can eat on the way. Handsome Jack is waiting. Now move.” Having a gun pointed at his head gave Rhys the incentive to do as he was told. He stepped out of the cell and between the guards. Something that seemed like a poor excuse for a sandwich was thrusted into his hand before the guard to his right pointed his gun at his back to get him moving. Fiona stood at the barrier and looked almost afraid, which was definitely a first for her.

As they moved through the hallways of Helios, Rhys tried to swallow his food down as fast as he could. That stuff wasn’t edible for human beings, even the cafeteria food from the Hub of Heroism was better than this. Having the feeling he would need all the energy he could get to survive the day, Rhys tried to keep it down. It was getting harder by the second, when every step took him closer to Jack’s office.

When they arrived at the door to the office, Rhys noticed the broken panel at the side. _Guess that’s what caused the crash_ , he mused. One of the guards moved towards a panel a bit to the left, which was obviously installed as a temporary replacement. The guard fumbled with his card for a while, the panel not working as it should. Rhys couldn’t hide his amusement when the guy started to throw curses at the device and the other guard moved over to give it a try himself. They started talking to each other in hushed voices, one of them starting to wave his gun around as if that would impress the panel. Rhys was about to burst out laughing, but the sound caught in his throat when the door slid open, revealing a pissed off Jack.

“I should start hiring Bullymongs instead of idiots like you.” The guards stood up straight and saluted. “Piss off. And get me someone up here who can fix that.” Jack barked at them before moving his attention to Rhys and motioned him to follow as the guards hurried off.

Being back in this room sent chills down Rhys’ back, but entering from this side definitely felt fascinating. Last time he was here, he didn’t really get a chance to look at this side of the room, with the huge gold statues in the middle and the book cases on the right side of the room. Taking in the details, he fell behind while Jack had already resumed his position in his chair.

“Come on, cupcake. F.A.C. – front and center.” He called over before pointing at Rhys to stand in front of his desk. Not wanting to test his luck, yet, Rhys hurried up the stairs before coming to a halt at the right spot. The desk was littered with ECHOs as well as some other small devices; Rhys could only guess that they were new prototypes that needed to be approved by Jack.

“So here’s the deal, I said I will make your miserable life even more miserable, and I will do that, by giving you few tasks each day. If you fail, well, let’s just say your friends won’t be too happy about that.” Jack leaned back in his chair, after putting some of the ECHOs away which Rhys obviously wasn’t supposed to see. Interesting.

Being alone with Jack like this almost had a familiar feel. Like when they were talking on the roof of the caravan, except for the threats Jack threw his way. That was nothing new though, he’d done that since day one, the only difference now was that he could actually act on them. Still, Rhys couldn’t shake the familiar feeling of companionship that had settled in his stomach over the days they had spent together.

“Since I’ve been… _away_ , there has been a lack in maintenance of this station, with everyone busy to screw each other over to be in my position.” Jack continued, raising an eyebrow at Rhys slightly pained expression. Rhys had been one of those people, after all. “Don’t get me wrong, kiddo, nothing wrong with stabbing a few backs, but someone, at some point, should have made sure that the whole station wasn’t crumbling away right under their asses. Now we have a malfunction on one of the communication points, which can only be repaired from outside and the bot that was supposed to do that is broken.”

“So, you want me to repair the bot?” Surely they had enough personnel for that task, right?

“Oh no, you don’t get away that easily, pumpkin. Didn’t you get the ‘hell’-part in my little speech yesterday?” Starting to look for something on his desk, Jack made a triumphant noise after he found a palm sized device, before throwing it at Rhys, who barely caught it.

Not being able to fully identity the device, Rhys got confused. “And what exactly am I supposed to do with that?” Turning it over in his hands and scanning it with his ECHO-eye still didn’t bring any results.

“That’s your Oz-kit. A new version designed by Hyperion, of course. The ones used on Elpis run out of air after a while, but this beauty won’t. Or at least that’s the plan, we haven’t tested it yet.”

 _What?_ Jack wants him to perform outboard maintenance while testing a new prototype?! There was just no way this would go well. Rhys’ heart started to increase its pace until it was beating a mile minute, while his stomach seemed to decide it didn’t need the sandwich any longer. All the color drained from his face as he looked wide eyed at the Oz-kit in his hand. _He couldn’t be serious…_

“Come on, kid, time’s a wastin’.” Jack made his way around his desk and started in the direction of the door. “I’ll even take you there personally. Now move before I make you.”

All thoughts had left Rhys’ head; he had no idea how his legs started to move, especially since he never made the conscious thought to do so. He was at Jacks side inside the elevator before he had a chance to win the battle against his stomach to keep it from spilling its contents on the floor. The wall of the elevator felt cold against his back, the chill that crept into his bones amplifying the fear that had settled deep within him. Not being able to raise his head, let alone look at Jack, Rhys fixated a spot on the ground, trying to calm his nerves. If he wanted a chance to get through this alive he had to keep it together. He couldn’t afford to lose his head, his friends depended on it, depended on him. Taking deep breaths, he closed his eyes and tried to focus.

When the doors slid open he looked almost composed. All the years he’d spent trying to climb the corporate ladder hadn’t been in vain, after all. The doors opened to reveal that they had arrived at the Hub of Heroism, the most central point of Helios, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that the way to the communication tower was through here. The only surprising part was that Jack had decided to escort him personally, when he could have easily ordered a guard to do it.

The moment they stepped out of the elevator was when everything went quiet around them. No one was used to seeing Jack anymore, so everyone stopped in their tracks to stare at them. Some poor employees feeling particularly brave, or stupid, actually approached Jack and tried to talk to him. The ones he didn’t ignore where stared down, except for one obviously suicidal guy who had the audacity to put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. After Jack had halted in his stride and stared at him for 10 seconds, he punched him straight in the face. The ones around took a step back, no one making a move to help the man on the ground.

“Come on, cupcake.” Jack barked over his shoulder before rolling his shoulders and resuming his march.

As soon as Jack had said those words, all eyes snapped to him. Rhys would be lying if he said he didn’t like the attention, even if most of it was ill-favored. Some were eyeing him with jealously, some with awe, but most of them with narrowed eyes, piercing him with their instant hatred. You gotta love Hyperion. If this was his last moment alive, he could at least savor it, hatred and all. Rhys put on a look of absolute confidence, making sure to walk as close to Jack as possible, to show everyone that he wasn’t afraid of the president of Hyperion. The only thing missing was him waving at the glowering crowd. They made their way across the Hub, reaching the elevator, accompanied by the hushed whispers of the people standing by. When Rhys got in after Jack, he made sure to flash a smile at the crowd in front of the elevator before the doors closed. God, that feeling was the best.

“Is there a reason why you’re looking so awfully smug?” Jack had turned to face Rhys, raising an eyebrow, but his smile betrayed that he already knew what the reason was.

“Just glad to be here again.” Mirroring Jack’s smile, Rhys looked at him defiantly.

Letting out a small laugh, Jack turned away. “Oh kiddo, we could have had so much fun together, if you hadn’t been so stupid.” He let the promise behind those words hang in the air.

Rhys stole a glance at the panel of the elevator. They would arrive at the communication tower soon. The triumphant feeling from the Hub was soon replaced with the same terror he had felt when they had left the office. Fumbling with the Oz-kit in his pocket, he tried to gather enough willpower to get through this with as much dignity as possible. The elevator signaled that they had arrived, and the doors slid open.

Okay, screw that; he just hoped he would get out of this alive.

They stepped out into a wide room, the walls lined with windows. There were some employees hurrying about, operating the machines at the side of the room. While Jack went straight to an older looking man with white beard, Rhys took a few steps towards the windows, amazed by the view of Elpis and the stars surrounding them. The view allowed him to forget his current situation, even if only for a few seconds, and calmed his nerves. He was enchanted with the scenery, missing it when Jack made his way to his side. A jolt of electricity ran through his veins when Jack placed a hand on his shoulder, causing his head to snap around. Rhys’ miss-matched eyes bore into Jack’s equally miss-matched ones. The spell was broken only when Jack started to move, pulling Rhys along.

After crossing the room, they followed a narrow passage until Jack stopped, signaling that he had arrived. In the wall was a maintenance door big enough for a loader bot to pass through. Jack moved to the keypad next to it, typing in the combination that caused the door to unlock and slide open. The force field around Helios ensured that the oxygen couldn’t leak into space.

Jack moved away from the door and gestured at Rhys to put on the Oz-kit. “Hit it, pumpkin. Let’s see if those nerds in the tech-division are as good as they think they are.”

Taking one last long breath, Rhys put the device to the back of his neck, before pressing the button that was supposed to start the force field around his head. A small sound reached his ears before a light blue field appeared around him.

“Good, at least step one is a success. Now listen up. They told me that an asteroid had crashed against Helios a few months ago. Months! Can you believe these idiots ignored it for _months?!_ I really gotta clean house. Anyways, this asteroid crashed a panel as well as a circuit board that lay underneath it and links two connection points. Short version: really important, don’t screw this up. Here is the new board and the tools. Just get out there, swap the broken one with the new one, secure the panel, get back inside, and hope that the oxygen field doesn’t break while you’re out there. Sounds easy? That’s because it is. Now move your cybernetic rear.” He shoved the new board into Rhys’ hand before giving him a light shove in the direction of the door.

“Don’t you wanna secure me? Tie a rope around my waist or something like that?” He started to panic after Jack hadn’t mentioned anything about how they would prevent him from drifting into space. To his dismay, Jack looked at him in complete boredom.

“Don’t be a wuss, now get out there.” The shove this time was more than light and it caused Rhys to break the force field around Helios and tumble out into space. He was able to catch the metal railing leading around the communication tower in time, calming his racing heart that threatened to break through his chest before throwing a glare at Jack. All he received was a wink accompanied by a thumbs up. Asshole.

Keeping his head in the game, Rhys started to move along the railing, slow and steady. Any small convulsion of the station could cause him to lose his grip. Even from this distance he could see the dent the asteroid had left in the outer shell of Helios. The cybernetic arm was a great help, the heightened strength giving him at least a little more confidence. It felt like hours when he finally arrived at the right spot. Clinging with his human hand as hard as he could on the railing, he used his cybernetic arm to pry away the plating of the station. Fortunately it didn’t look so bad under it, the circuit board seeming the only broken piece. He loosened the connections to the old board carefully, pocketing it once it came out. When Rhys took out the new on, a small tremor of Helios caused it to slip out of his hand, beginning to drift off into space. Pushing off with his human hand, along the railing, he managed to grab it before it got too far. Having it secure in his grasp, he pressed himself against the shell of Helios, taking a few long breaths to calm himself.

He made sure that his heart was beating at a more normal pace before placing the board at its rightful place, connecting it with the wires. It didn’t take long before everything was set; Rhys knowledge of the tech in his own arm helped him a great deal to finish the task quickly and effectively. He was about to close the hole by putting the plate back onto it when his Oz-kit made beeping sound and the field began to flicker. _Oh no. Oh no no no._ Not yet. Rhys had almost forgotten that it was only a prototype. It had worked so silent and smooth. The field steadied again and Rhys didn’t waste a single second before taking the tool Jack gave him in his hand and started putting it to use. After he finished the first side he studied the field for any disturbance, but it seemed to work normal again. The second side was done, and there was still no sign of problems. He had just finished the third when the kit started beeping again, only this time it wasn’t only once. The field began to flicker again, and Rhys rushed to finish the fourth and last side despite the constant warning sound in his ear. DONE! As soon as the plate was secured he put the tool back into his pocket, fumbling when it wouldn’t get in properly. Another convulsion of the station smacked it out of his hand and it started to drift into space. This time, though, he didn’t give a shit about it.

The force field began to flicker faster, small holes appearing in it that began to suck out the oxygen. Rhys moved as fast as he could, pulling himself back in the direction of the door, the short distance now seeming miles away. The warning tone sped up, probably telling him that his life was coming to an end. His arms were aching and his heart sped up with every tone the kit made. The air was getting thinner and he began gulping, his body warning him that he needed more oxygen. Just as he reached the door, the force field broke. One last push and he stumbled into the open door.

Jack was standing before him, saying something, but Rhys couldn’t have cared less, as he fell forward against Jack’s chest, balling his hands in his jacket, the only way to keep him upright. Breathing deeply he tried to get in as much air into his aching lungs as he could. Rhys felt Jack’s arms wrap around his waist, pulling him closer. If his brain had been able to form a single thought except for ‘air’, he would have had a slight meltdown before pushing away from the man who had caused all of his problems. But right now, all he could think of was clinging to him and the safety he provided. His breathing evened out, going from erratic back to normal. A scent started to fill his nose. Rhys savored it and the calming effect it had. It took several minutes before he began to feel his body again.

The scent engulfed him. Now that he could think again, Rhys came to the conclusion that it must be coming from Jack, a mixture of his cologne and pure Jack. He would hate himself for thinking it later, but it was the best smell that had ever filled his nose. Rubbing his face against his chest one last time, Rhys pushed himself off of Jack, trying his best to stand straight. Turning to look at Jack he was surprised when he saw concern written on his face, instead of the amused or angry expression he had expected.

“Come on, Rhys. Let’s get you out of here.”

Rhys let himself get pushed along by Jack’s hand on the small of his back. As soon as they reached the elevator, Rhys slumped against the wall before crumbling to a mess on the floor. The ride was long, and he had time to recover a bit more. Jack was leaning on the wall opposite him, talking on his ECHO.

“He did WHAT? And you just found about it NOW? How can you be so incompetent? …. Of course I wanna know about something like this you dunce! Let me know as soon as anything new comes up.” Cutting off the call, Jack started to massage his forehead with his fingers. “I’m surrounded by dimwits. It’s a miracle Helios didn’t crash into Pandora while I was gone.”

When they arrived, Rhys got up on shaky legs, pleasantly surprised when Jack returned to his side and placed his hand back where it had been before. The looks they received this time were way worse and Rhys wondered if Jack didn’t notice or just didn’t care. They took a shorter route this time, in the direction of the prison level. Once they reached the guard, Jack handed him over before storming off without a glance back.

The guard escorted him back to his cell. As soon as Rhys was inside, and the guard was out of sight, his friends started to shower him in questions.

“Dude, what happened? You don’t seem to have a single drop of blood in your entire face.” Vaughn was at his side instantly.

“Yeah, you look even worse than down on Pandora. What did he make you do?” Fiona called over from her cell.

Rhys softly pushed Vaughn away before lying down. “I’ll tell you everything, but right now I really need to sleep.” He curled into a ball, letting his head rest on his arms.

Burrowing his face in the still surprisingly soft fabric of his sleeves, he noticed that Jacks scent must have rubbed off on them. He took a deep breath, letting it lull him into a deep sleep.

 

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

 

 

It had been the most wonderful dream, and the best sleep he’d had in ages. So of course there had to be two hissing voices, constantly nagging him, before succeeding in ripping him out of it.

“Why is he always sniffing his arm…?”

“Yeah… He did that all night. Oh my god, is he drooling on it? Aw, that’s disgusting…”

“I think he’s waking up. Yo, buddy, you with us?” Vaughn was crouching down, angling his head to the side to mirror Rhys’, before his hand had to shoot up to prevent his glasses from falling. That definitely wasn’t a sight Rhys wanted to see after waking up, so he buried his face in his arms.

“Come on, Rhys, stop the weird arm sniffing and tell us what happened!” Patience definitely wasn’t Fiona’s strong suit. She was leaning against the barrier of her cell, one arm braced against it, staring expectantly at the fetus-like form on the ground pretending to sleep. After hearing only a cough and nontangible mumbling from Rhys she grits her teeth together, her nostrils flaring. “Goddammit, Vaughn, could you kick him for me?” Vaughn looked at her sheepishly, showing no intention on following her polite request. “I swear, if he won’t get up _right now_ and tell us what the heck happened, I will find a way through this barrier and make both of you eat your Hyperion-issued shorts!” The kick against the barrier for emphasize made Rhys and Vaughn wince, with Rhys hitting his head against the wall in the process.

“You should seriously work on your anger management, you know that?” sitting up, Rhys probed the sore spot on the back of his head with his fingers, feeling a light bump already starting to form.

“And you should work on not being a complete idiot. Now stop with the stalling and tell us why you look like you got chewed on by a skag hive.”

“Alright, alright.”

So he told them the whole story. Well, not the whole story. He conveniently left out the part where he almost shit his pants. Oh, and the one where he rubbed against Jack’s chest – that too. No good would come out of his friends knowing he had formed a strange addiction to Jack’s scent. Saying that, even in his head, was disturbing enough.  
Once he finished telling about the events of the previous day, Vaughn threw himself at him and embraced him in a crushing hug, lightly choking Rhys in the process.

“Oh my god, I’m so glad you’re still alive, bro!”

“You know me, buddy; I can’t be killed so easily.” Forcing out the words with the limited air Vaughn left him with was hard, so Rhys was stuck between patting his friends back reassuringly and lightly prying away his arms.

“Don’t take it so lightly, Rhys. That could easily have been the end of you. You’re lucky you got out of it in one piece.” Fiona spoke with deep concern in her voice. After she had been initially stunned into silence by what she heard, she had kept quiet until Rhys had finished, looking to the ground and chewing on the inside of her lip. “I swear, the next time I see that asshole I’m gonna unload the mag of Vallory’s rocket launcher right into his face. And I’ll make sure he _stays dead_.”

Her genuine concern and rage about what Jack did to Rhys brought a smile to his face. Fiona always works hard on letting it seem like she didn’t care about what happens to him, but it was obvious how much they had grown together these past weeks. The same could not be said about Sasha, though. She was lurking in the corner of their cell since day one, refusing to even acknowledge his existence. It was most likely that she had a problem with Rhys and not Vaughn, though he couldn’t know for sure, because she was as talkative as a rock when he was around. After the moments of friendship they had shared on Pandora, that may have led to more eventually, he really thought she would be able to forgive him for not telling them about Jack earlier.

It wasn’t his fault, after all. Well, not entirely at least. At first he didn’t know if he could trust them to not kill him in his sleep, the probability of that increasing tenfold if he had told them he had the supposedly dead CEO of the most loathed corporation on Pandora riding shotgun in his head. Then Athena joined them and his brain would have been pierced by a bullet before he would have been able to finish saying Jack’s name. There was just never was a good time to tell them. Hell, there never would be something even remotely close to a good time for this. A con-artist should know that you should never give away vital secrets lightly. She treated him like a piece of gum stuck to a shoe – disgusted, but you can’t get rid of it so you just ignore it until it goes away.

While Rhys was stuck with the musing in his head, Vaughn had detached himself from his friend and was spitting vulgar curses against Jack and Hyperion, Fiona gladly joining in. Not caring to join in, Rhys enjoyed the affection that was portrayed by their swearing and stopped to fight the smile from forming on his lips. They were interrupted by the same two guards from the previous day bursting through the door and marching to their cells.

The first guard was carrying food, while the other fixed on Rhys. “You. Up. You got work to do.”

It was the same ordeal as the previous day, Fiona and Sasha got their tray with food through a small opening. Fiona stood right behind the barrier, arms crossed and sending the guards a death glare. The tray hit her boots but she didn’t pay attention to it, too focused on contemplating whether she could fit through the small opening or not.

Rhys moved out of his cell without putting up a fight, knowing it would be useless anyways and hoping his compliance would someday give him an advantage when the guards grew more careless. Fiona certainly did not approve of it, though.

After being handed his food to go, the guards led him along the familiar path out of the prison area. The sandwich was still disgusting and Rhys was pretty sure the so called ‘Skag Pasties’ from Grease Face would be preferable to this.

Turning in the direction of Jack’s office, the bite he took got stuck in his throat when he was yanked back forcefully by a guard, threatening to fall into the wrong pipe. With the danger of suffocation avoided, the question why they were heading in this direction made him curious.

“Uhm, gentlemen, may I ask why we’re not going to Jack’s office?” It wasn’t like he was complaining, but a change of plans was never good when it came to dealing with Handsome Jack.

“You’re not meeting with him today.”

“Then may I ask why I’m not meeting with him?”

“None of your business.” The guard behind him made his point by slamming the butt of his rifle into his back.

“Ouch, okay, I got it. No need to get all physical about it.”

Rhys stayed quiet for the rest of the way. Not meeting Jack could be a good or a bad sign. It could prolong his life, because, he wasn’t up close to a homicidal maniac, which was always a plus, but it could also mean he got bored with his new plaything and thus end Rhys’ life earlier than planned.  
The way seemed endless, with them rounding the 15th corner and walking down a corridor that looked the same as the eight before it. He was just about to complain when they came to a stop in front of a door labeled ‘Wildlife’, accompanied by at least a dozen warning signs. There was no time to read them all before the door slid open, revealing a large room with a huge variety of different research instruments, severed body parts that looked like they once belonged to Spiderants and dozens of vials with body fluids in varying shades of green. A few scientists hurried about, the guards approaching a specific man with slicked back black hair and glasses sitting low on his nose.

The man turned around when he heard their steps, echoing through the metal clad room, glancing at the guards before eying Rhys from head to toe. “Who is this poorly clad individual?”

_….What? Poorly clad?! Says the guy who could be mistaken for Shade?_ Rhys had bitch-slapped Shade in the face and he would do it again, guards and consequences be damned.

Before anything could happen, a guard spoke up. “He’s the one the boss mentioned.”

“Ah, yes. The one who’s supposed to help with the cages. Leave him here, I’ll inform him about his duties and notify you once he can be escorted back.”

“With respect, Sir, but I think it would be advisable to have him accompanied by a guard, to ensure your safety.”

The scientist eyed him over the edge of his glasses, eyebrows shooting up before he turned to eye Rhys once again. “This one? I hardly believe he poses a threat. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have important duties to get to.” With that the guy had turned around and was starting to walk away before the guards even had a chance to reply. Shrugging to each other, one of them shoved Rhys in the direction of the corridor the scientist had just walked into, watching him until he fell in line behind his supervisor for the day.

The hallway was as sterile as the room before, metal plating on the walls and ceiling, with not a single window. Contemplating whether he should show this royal douchebag how much of a threat he was, Rhys was occupied with painting pictures in his head of all the ways he could wipe that arrogant look off of that gross face. The horrible, grating voice of the scientist pierced through his thoughts and forced him to listen.

“The task I will give you is easy enough; even you should be able to manage it. You have to clean the cages of the specimens. Since our division up here is only small, with the majority of the research being made down on Pandora in the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve, it shouldn’t take you too long.”

There was something awfully fishy about this. Yesterday he almost died and today he was back to janitorial work? There was just no way Jack would let him off with something this easy.

“Cleaning? That’s it?”

“Of course. Why, do you want to feed them too?”

God, that guy was begging to get punched; right in the nose that took up way too much space on that deformed thing he called a face.  
They stopped in front of a glass door with a sign labeled ‘specimen’ next to it, which slid open after the scientist inserted his card and punched in the code. Entering the spacious room revealed what seemed to be around 20 cages of different sizes, aligned in two rows, facing each other. All of them where covered by metal plating for further security, so seeing the mess inside was not possible yet. Rhys made his way to the middle of the room, where cleaning supplies had been piled up. A quick inspection of it brought a wave of relieve, as he spotted a pair of gloves. Thank god he didn’t have to touch whatever came out of these murderous creatures with his bare hands. Jack did have, at least, a little bit of mercy in him. Fishing them out of the pile, he noticed the high quality material they were made of, thick and sturdy but also soft at the same time. Real Hyperion-quality.

“You found your working equipment, good. You possess the ability to spot the obvious, I’m deeply impressed. One last word of advice.”

Turning around and fixing the scientist with the most annoyed yet proud look he could muster, Rhys saw him standing at the wall next to one row of the cages, hand on a switch. The click that followed drove the air out of Rhys’ lungs and the color off his face, when the metal plating began to slide upwards, revealing the glass of the cages… as well as sleeping creatures inside of them.

“Try not to wake them.”

 

 

 

They wanted… they wanted… him to… clean the cages with the creatures still _in them_?! Prying his eyes away from the sleeping form of a skag, Rhys turned to the scientist, only to be greeted with a grin beyond shit-eating. The guy was clearly enjoying the situation, failing to hide his amusement. Though he didn’t even seem to try. When he was done savoring the look of terror on Rhys’ face, he continued as if it was totally normal to clean the cage of a lethal creature with claws bigger than Rhys’ entire arm with it sleeping inside.

“The door is to your right; you only have to press the small button on the side, same goes for inside. Good luck.” With that he turned around, heading for the door.

Strangely enough he didn’t close the door behind him once he was outside. Figuring his supervisor would stay close and wanted to hear everything that was going on, Rhys gathered all the emotional strength he had left, scooped up the necessary cleaning supplies and made his way over to cage number one. Inside was a skag. It seemed to sleep soundly, having received some kind of tranquilizer, most likely. Rolled tight into a ball, the creature looked almost cute. No wonder some bandits kept them as some kind of pet.

Rhys let the soft snoring of the skag and the light rise and fall of its chest calm him down, assuring himself that he could do this before slowly reaching for the button that would open the door. Pressing it, Rhys jumped back a few inches in fear, expecting the door to make a loud noise and wake the creature. However, the door didn’t even make the slightest noise, sliding to the side without any complications. Upon entering the small cage, all the fondness he had felt for the stalker flew out the window as he was hit with a horrible stench. Oh god… How could something that small reek this bad? He pressed the glove of his human arm over his nose and mouth, opting for the strange smell of the fabric rather than the excrements of the skag.

Stepping inside and carefully taking a look around the small area, Rhys was relieved to notice that not that much had to be done. The last cleaning of the cages probably wasn’t that long ago, with Jack only wanting to harass him with this, literally, breathtaking smell and the possibility of getting chewed up by the wildlife of Pandora. Hurriedly getting to work, he finished the first cage in no time. Before moving on to the next, he peeled off his shoes, making moving around easier because he made less noise, but being extra careful to not step into anything.

In the next cage a stalker was waiting for him. The first row of cages were rather easy, the small creatures only taking up a small amount of space, which left him enough to maneuver around them without even touching a hair - or scale - on their bodies. It filled Rhys with confidence; everything was going quit well despite his previous concerns. When he made his way back to the pile of equipment in the middle of the room, he heard the scientist outside the door yell at someone. It seemed he was calling a name. Since he was already halfway done with his task, it wouldn’t hurt to eavesdrop a little, right?

Using his meanwhile well-practiced ability to move silently, Rhys crept towards the door, pressing his back against the wall and slowly inching his head forward to risk a glance into the corridor beyond. He let out the breath he was holding when he saw an open door only a few inches away on the other side, which most likely led to an office where his supervisor was seated. A ‘Dr. Albers’ had joined him and they embarked in some meaningless chatter, like who made that awful coffee this morning. Rhys was about to turn away, when they finally got to the real business.

“The reason I called you here, Dr. Albers, is because I need you to oversee the prisoner while I am away. He is cleaning the cages as we speak. You only need to wait until he is either finished with his task or dead, and inform the guards.”

Rhys couldn’t help his throat from getting as dry as the sand on Pandora upon being reminded of the high risk of dying in a smelly cage, the built-up confidence slowly degrading once more.

“No problem at all. May I ask where you are heading?” The other scientist asked in a high-pitched voice.

“Handsome Jack has requested my presence at a meeting he is currently holding. He asked for me personally to present facts about the wildlife on Pandora. It seems to involve the next mission.”

Rolling his eyes, Rhys let out an annoyed groan at the way this slimy guy tried to gloat in front of his colleague, putting too much emphasize on _Handsome Jack_ and _personally_. Although that fact did was interesting. Jack was preparing a mission on Pandora? He just got back into his body like three days ago and he was already planning on going back to the planet where he was killed? That did also explain why he didn’t meet with him today. Must be highly important for Jack to miss out on the chance to torture Rhys, personally. The high voice of the other scientist stopped his musing.

“When shall I check on the prisoner?”

“Considering when we gave the tranquilizer, he shouldn’t have longer than 30 minutes to finish. The Bullymong probably burns through it faster. So check in half an hour, or wait for the screams. Either way, I’m heading off.”

Oh god.

Right on cue, the Bullymong in the large cage started to stir, proving the scientist right. Rhys sprinted into action, dashing to the second row of cages with adrenaline rushing through his veins. The stench from the Bullymong was the worst so far and it took all of Rhys willpower not to turn around and run out of the cage. Jumping out of an airlock did seem more appealing in that moment. Rhys was kind enough to spare everyone the details of what he had to clean up in there, being somewhat sure he spotted a human bone once or twice. The stirring of the big pile of muscles and fur increased with every second, a murderous growl reaching his ears. Looking up, Rhys was met with the eyes of the Bullymong slowly opening before fixing on Rhys. The creature let out a big puff of warm air, right into Rhys’ face. Jumping to his feet, he almost fell over because his socks slipped on the cleaned ground but managed to grab the frame of the door and heaving himself out of the cage, the door sliding back into place just as the big fist of the Bullymong crashed against it. Having fallen on his ass, Rhys just sat there for a few seconds, breathing rapidly while watching the creature rage in its cage.

The new scientist watching him peeked inside the room. “That was a close one, eh?” He said with no small amount of amusement, as he saw Rhys trying to catch his breath. Was everyone on Helios a sadistic asshole? After he had walked away laughing, Rhys heaved his body off the ground, convinced that he should really hurry with the rest of the cages.

Luck seemed to be on his side, as most of the remaining cages where filled with Threashers, as his ECHO-eye provided helpfully, with almost nothing to clean up. The Bullymong was still raging, shaking the whole row of cages in the process.

He did it! He was done. And more importantly: still alive. Suck on that Jack, another day, another trial, and Rhys was still standing.

The victorious feeling was cut short when the scientist appeared in the door, flanked by the returned guards. It was still early in the day, so Rhys would get back to his friends sooner, at least that was a plus.

“Your next task is waiting. Come on.” The right guard barked.

“What? No, nononononono, no. Jack said _one_ task a day!”

“Guess he changed his mind.” The guards made it obvious that they weren’t in the mood for discussions, adjusting the weapons in their hands and clicking the safety off in a very aggressive manner. Silent curses escaped Rhys’ lips as he put his shoes back on, being grateful for the familiar feel of the soft leather on his feet, before making his way over to the guards.

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

They made their way to a room on a different level, seemingly on the other side of the station. It was part of the tech division, the rooms stuffed with components and prototypes. Now that was something Rhys liked. The scientists here looked a lot friendlier; even a few Loaderbots lurked around. Rhys wondered what had happened to his trusted companion. Had he been repaired? Dismantled? Accused of treason and beheaded? Burnt at the stake? …Did Rhys really wanna know?

One of Hyperion’s scientists jumped in front of Rhys. He was a small, husky man with working glasses on his nose that made his eyes so big that he looked like a bug.

“You must be Rhys, so nice to meet you. They told me to take you to your workplace.” He grabbed Rhys hand, shaking it forcefully before hurrying off, not caring enough to wait for Rhys.

Well, at least someone here was nice to him. It was easy for Rhys to keep up with the man, considering his legs were three times as long. Shortly after, they arrived at a large room, metal plating as usual and filled with a high amount of broken Loaderbots.

“These are EXPloaders we had to take out of commission. They only seem to have minor problems, but we just didn’t have enough manpower to take a look at them. The CEO told me you could handle this.”

Woah, woah, woah. Was Rhys seriously feeling proud because of this comment? Because Jack seemed to think he was capable of fixing his precious bots? Because a mass murdering psychopath acknowledged his skills? The answer was yes. Yes, he did feel proud. With the warm feeling spreading in his body, he made his way over to one of the bots.

“No problem-o, amigo. Will have them running in no time.” Filled with self-confidence, Rhys crouched down next to the nearest bot, grabbed its head and twisting it to get a better look at it.

Wait a minute. What’s that red light? That wasn’t blinking before.

Rhys heard the shrill shriek of the scientist before he was grabbed by the arm and forcefully yanked behind a metallic crate. A huge explosion deafened his ears while small metallic parts flew by, nearly grazing his shoulder before crashing against the wall on the opposite site of the room.

“What the hell was that?!”

“Didn’t you listen?” The small man crouched next to Rhys, helping him sit up. “I told you those are EXPloader! They explode! That’s what they are designed for!”

“…Oh.”

“Like I said, they only have small errors, but they can get really messy. Get one small detail wrong and BOOM.” He emphasized the last word by mimicking an explosion with his hands. “They told me you’re supposed to repair them, so I figured you were some kind of expert.”

“I’m clearly not…”

“I figured as much. I wish I could help you, but I was instructed to not interfere. So I guess…good luck? Don’t get blown up? Your tools are over there.” He lightly clapped Rhys on the arm before running off as fast as his small legs would allow him.

Great. First, he had to make sure not to get chewed up, now it was to not get blown up. At least this time it would be quick and painless.  
Grabbing the tools from the small desk in the center of the room, Rhys made his way over to the next loader, now with a lot more fear than before. It looked mostly intact, only a few stray wires hanging out of it. But how exactly was he supposed to know what he should………………Oh. He still got his ECHO-eye and arm. They had cut off his connection to the servers of Helios, but his eye should be able to provide him with, literally, lifesaving information. After a quick scan and several checks of the wire, he started his work. Shortly after, a high pitched noise reached his ears, subtle but there. That can’t be good. Sprinting back to the cover behind the metal box, Rhys barely made it, a sharp edged metal plate ripping a sharp cut into his right cheek. His human hand shot up on instinct, holding the hurting wound that oozed blood over his fingers. The stinging pain was horrible, so he waited for it to ease up a bit and the flow of blood to stop before heaving him up from the ground.

His left hand was now fully covered in blood, which made operating on the highly sensitive machines even more difficult. After the third explosion, Rhys had moved some of the metal crates to build a small fort in the middle of the room where he could easily duck behind.

A few hours later, Rhys was exhausted. His brain was tired because of the high level of concentration that was needed and his body from all the sprints for cover, where most often than not it had been because of his paranoia and not an actual explosion. Better safe than sorry.

He wasn’t without success, though. Some of the bots were actually operational again, two even powering up and politely thanking him before exiting the room.

His cheek was still stinging and lightly oozing blood, his hands hurt and his body felt limp from the awkward positions on the floor. As he was working on what had to be his twelfth EXPloader, he heard the door to the room open, but didn’t bother looking up.

“Lay off, cupcake, you’re done for today.”

Almost cutting the wrong wire in surprise, Rhys turned to find Jack standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. The small scientist was crouching a few feet behind Jack, obviously afraid and exited at being near the infamous CEO of Hyperion at the same time.

Rhys stood up on shaky legs, Jack making his way over instantly. He stopped right in front of Rhys, giving him a quick once-over before raising his left arm and placing his hand on Rhys’ cheek, causing him to jump from the unexpected touch. His thumb traced along the line of the cut, gathering the blood flowing out of it, before bringing it to his lips and liking the blood off, eyes never leaving Rhys’, who was stunned into silence as he was transfixed by the movement of Jacks tongue.

“You should be more careful. Your good looks is all you have, pumpkin.”

Jack said it in his usual playful demeanor, but he was clearly occupied with something else. His eyes switched from Rhys’ neural port, to his ECHO-eye, up and down his arm and back to his port to start the cycle anew.

“The guards will get you back to your cell.” With that Jack briskly turned around and headed out the door without another word, the scientist almost falling over when he tried to get out of the way.

Something was up, and Rhys wouldn’t rest until he knew what it was.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the late update! Both me and my beta had technical problems... Promise the next one will be up faster!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been way too long and I'm sooo sorry! I'm just a terribly slow writer and had a lot going on in my life. I hope this chapter compensates for the long wait!  
> Special thanks to Nipsu_Sossottaja for kicking my butt!

 

 

 

Something was off. The guards should have picked him up hours ago. Yet there was no sign of them. They didn’t get their food, either. His stomach was voicing its discontent by grumbling loudly, showing how the events of the previous day had exhausted him.

Rhys was sitting in the corner in the back of their cell, lightly massaging his stomach, his mind racing a mile a minute. What was that new mission about? More importantly, could he use it to his advantage? Maybe get his friends out and off of Helios. And why did Jack relieve him of his task? He even came personally.

There was a possibility that it was about the vault of the traveler, but surely this was a mission that could wait. Jack had had barely time to recover and risking losing everything because he rushed things just didn’t make sense. Plus, it didn’t fit Jack’s profile. He was known for always having a plan, thoroughly prepared and with a plan B in place. Sometimes even a plan C, though this one mostly consisted of shooting everything in the face.

Vaughn was sitting near the barrier, letting out a long sigh before hugging his legs close to his chest. He and Fiona had finished their mantra of ‘we hate Jack’ a few minutes ago, with Fiona throwing curses in the surveillance camera of their cell. Rhys had obediently told them everything, knowing they wouldn’t leave him alone now that he had actually gotten physically hurt, even if it was as simple as a cut on his cheek. Which still burned like hell, thanks for asking. When he told them about his eavesdropping, Fiona brushed it off, saying that it probably wasn’t that big of a deal and Jack just prepared another strike to destroy Pandora. She didn’t know Jack as well as Rhys did, having spent years of admiring him and weeks with him in his head. No, there had to be more to it. Vaughn gave him a look that portrayed the same thing, he too had worked for Hyperion long enough to know when something was off, though he kept quiet.

Letting everything run through his head again and again, Rhys always shivered at the memory of Jack licking Rhys’ blood of his thumb, with the way some of it got stuck to his lip before a swipe of his tongue cleaned it away. With Jack’s scent no longer lingering on his sleeves, thanks to the Pandoran wildlife, this memory brought back the same warm feeling in his gut.

Talking about scent, Rhys smelled. No, he didn’t just smell, he _reeked_. Terribly. Vaughn mentioned this more than once. In fact, it was the first thing he voiced, even though there was blood running down Rhys’ cheek and along the line of his neck, soaking through his collar. The blood was now dry; leaving behind long crumbling lines that Rhys had no motivation to wash off.

The known sound of the doors to the prison level opening rang through the small hallway, followed by two pairs of footsteps, headed in their direction. This time, when the guards reached their cells, they only opened the small area at the bottom of Vaughn’s and Rhys’ cell, pushing through a tablet with food on it that looked definitely more edible than the last portions they got. They were both totally captivated with the good looking food and drinks, that they missed the guards opening the other cell completely, forcing Fiona and Sasha to follow them. Only when Fiona let out a growl of resistance were they able to pry their eyes away from the tray and jump up in fear.

“Hey, where are you taking them?!” Rhys hammered against the barrier.

The guards ignored him completely while positioning themselves behind the girls and pushing them forward. Vaughn joined him and called after them until they were out of sight.  
No, this can’t be happening. Why? And why now? Was it because of what happened yesterday? Had Jack terminated his work because he would get rid of him, of them?

 

* * *

 

 

It had been over an hour since the girls had been taken away, and neither Vaughn nor Rhys had touched the food. They were so worried, that even their primal need for food to survive didn’t kick in. Vaughn’s stomach decided to join in a duet with Rhys’, the grumbling the only sound in their cell. Both jumped up and rushed to the barrier when they heard the doors of the prison level open again, mashing their faces against it in hopes of seeing who came in. The first thing entering their line of sight was…. Fiona. A rather relaxed and happy looking Fiona. She was stretching leisurely before tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear.

“Hey ho, boys. Missed us?”

Both girls strolled back into their cell without putting up a fight.

Vaughn was the one to burst out first. “What? Why…? What happened? Where were you?”

“Relax Vaughn,” Fiona reassured him, “they merely took us to the showers where we had the chance to catch up on some long overdue washing. They even washed our clothes, and I gotta hand it to you Hyperion-schmucks – the detergent you have here: marvelous!” She only stopped sniffing at every part of her coat that she could reach to accept the tray with food the guards handed her.

“Never thought you’d be rolling over that easily.” Rhys was actually a bit disappointed in her.

“No one’s rolling over. Especially not me,” she shot back in a warning tone, but continued calmly. “First thing you gotta learn as a con-artist is to take what you can get, and after all this time chasing Gortys’ pieces and rotting away in this cell, let’s say a long shower was just what I needed. And now…” She took a long inhale of the smell of the food. “…let’s make sure we don’t have to fight on an empty stomach.”

One of the guards let out an annoyed growl before shutting of the field separating the boys’ cell. “Your turn. Move it.”

Fiona gave them a thumbs up before digging into her food.

Even though Rhys was still slightly disappointed in Fiona and how she just went with it, he couldn’t deny that he really longed for a shower as well. She was right, it was long overdue.  
Once the warm water hit his skin, Rhys let out a long sigh, just letting it run over his body for several minutes before even thinking about using soap. Cleansing his skin and hair of the events of the previous day, the familiar scent of his favorite shampoo brought him back to more pleasant memories of the company he had once called home.

After stepping out of the shower, he found his clothes in a neat pile on a bench, cleaned and dried. Once he was dressed, the door opened and a man in a white coat entered the room.

“Hello, I’m Dr. Kinney. I’m here to have a look at your wound.”

The doctor placed a small bag on the bench next to Rhys and motioned for him to sit down. Doing as he was told, Rhys hissed when the doctor disinfected the cut with a cotton ball, before pulling other small bottles out of the bag and spreading the contents over the cut as well. The throbbing pain slowly ebbed away, replaced by a cool feeling.

“Finished already. This wound doesn’t require a bandage or anything, though be careful not to touch it in the next two hours.”

Rhys was barely able to mumble a quiet ‘thanks’ before the doctor rushed out of the room. Now alone and with the lingering pain from the wound finally gone, his body felt fully at ease for the first time in weeks – the muscles in his back were relaxed, the grease was washed off, his hair silky and shiny, his eyes not feeling as heavy as before.

Once he exited the room, he caught sight of the guards and his best friend, whose grin spread all over his face. Just like the girls, Vaugh and Rhys didn’t put up a fight when the guards motioned for them to return to the cells. All the way back Rhys was only able to think about two things, first, how refreshed he felt, second, that his food had to be cold by now. Which was a huge loss, a warm meal would have been a nice change. Next to him Vaughn was humming one of his favorite songs, smile still spreading to his ears.

Upon reaching the cells they noticed the next big surprise: mattresses were now lying on the previously cold and empty floor. They were even given blankets. While Vaughn let out a squeal of joy, jumping onto one of the mattresses before sitting down and grabbing his tray with food and eagerly digging in, Rhys couldn’t help the feeling of unease returning to him. If he felt something was off before, now he was convinced of it. What the hell was Jack planning? And why did he grant them this comfort all of a sudden, while he has been so keen on trying to kill Rhys the past days? There were too many variables missing, so he had no option but to wait for the blanks to be filled in, as unsatisfying as it was to just sit around waiting for the bomb to drop on him. But for now there was nothing to be done except follow Fiona’s advice to regain strength.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Two days passed, filled only with sleeping, eating and talking. It was driving Rhys mad. The puzzle was unsolved as before and every minute he spend in that cell, not knowing what was happening made him go up the walls. Vaughn tended to avoid conversations now, sensing Rhys’ inner turmoil. The conversations had died down in general, with Fiona being as restless as Rhys. She had to be one of the most impatient people Rhys knew, so being locked up with nothing happening was bound to make her crazy.  
On the next day Rhys was finally freed from both the prison on Helios, as well as the prison he had built in his mind, with the thousands of questions trapping his mind. The guards got him in their usual crude manner, and for once he was actually glad to walk the corridors to Jack’s office.

He was dropped off at the door of the office, the guards leaving him to walk the rest of the way on his own. Not hesitating a second, Rhys made his way over to the desk, which was fully covered in ECHO devices and paper work. Maps, sketches, medical reports, construction plans and reports of Pandora covered every last inch of the usually shiny surface. Jack himself was so completely absorbed in his work, that he hadn’t even noticed Rhys, who was now standing across from him and taking this rare opportunity to watch an oblivious Jack. The always cocky and vicious attitude absent, Jack resembled the picture of a hero that Rhys had painted in his head all those years. After a minute of starring, Rhys decided it was time to announce his presence with a small cough. Jack’s head snapped up so fast to look at Rhys that he almost strained his neck with the force.

“Alright, so here’s the deal. I don’t have much time to explain so shut up and listen.” Leaning back in his chair, Jack grabbed a keycard from his desk before throwing it at Rhys, who was barely able to catch it, his limbs pathetically flailing in doing so. “That card will open the door to Nishikama’s office.”

“Nakayama,” Rhys corrected.

“Who cares? I want you to go in there, search through all the stuff this weirdo has amassed in the last years before he so gracefully offed himself, and gather everything he has on the Crimson Raiders, as well as project X267. Got it?”

“What’s project X267?”

“Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head over.”

“Then how am I supposed to know what I’m looking for?”

Jack let out a sigh, leaning back in his chair and picking up an ECHO from the desk. “It’s protocol in the science division to always name the project at the beginning of an ECHO. Even you should be able to find it. This task is important, so don’t mess it up, alright?” Looking up from the device, Jack gave Rhys a sharp look, waiting for a sign of understanding.

Rhys was having none of it. “If this task is _sooooo important_ , why not send someone who is, I don’t know, **qualified** for it?”

That response even made Jack put the ECHO down, stand up and fix Rhys with the most annoyed and intense stare he could muster with his balled fists pressing down on the table.

“Because, _cupcake_ ,” he spit out with venom, “it is highly classified information – ”

“Yeah, now that makes me perfect for it – ”

“It does. Because should this information fall into the wrong hands, say, someone wanting to harm Hyperion, this would be our end. But you? You’re stuck in a cell, unable to do any damage.”

“That doesn’t explain why you don’t do it yourself, if that information is so important and dangerous.”

Jack let out a full hearted laugh before breaking their starring contest and reseating himself. “No, no-no-no. As important as this is, I will never ever go into that office. No way in hell. God knows what’s in there.” He forcefully shook his head before grabbing a coffee mug off the desk and taking a sip. “Shouldn’t be a problem for a fellow fanboy like you, though. Alright, off you go.”

Glaring at Jack’s dismissively waving hand, Rhys walked away in a huff. He would have smashed the door if he could, those stupid sliding doors preventing him from taking out his rage on the nearest inanimate object.  
The guards walked him to Nakayama’s office. The guy had been researching weapons, as far as Rhys knew, and was well known for his obsession with Jack. Which probably was the reason why Jack didn’t want to step foot into the scientists room. The extend of what it meant to have to go through every file Nakayama had only dawned on Rhys once he set foot into the office, which was filled to the brim with ECHOs, devices, paperwork and prototypes of different sizes.

After being left alone in this misery, with one guard saying they would be back with lunch later, Rhys had no idea even where to start. There didn’t seem to be any system behind the sorting of the files, which was a stark contrast to Rhys’ way of neatly organizing everything. You’d think the thing about a scientist being crazy and messy was just a cliché, but unfortunately not.

Having to start somewhere, he sat down near the closest pile and grabbing the first ECHO that fell into his hand. Once activated, the device carried Nakayama’s voice through the room.

_“ECHO 148. It is a disaster! I was so close to creating the perfect monster, with long lifespan, the power of 50 Loaderbots combined and a skin as hard as iron! But then I spilled my coffee and it managed to escape into one of the ventilation pipes. Haven’t heard of any casualties until now, so I suppose it’s fine.”_

Dropping the ECHO, Rhys stared in horror at the large hole in the pipe right next to where he was sitting. Someone must have taken care of this monster…right? …Right? Even though repositioning himself on the other side of the room didn’t make him feel any safer. Picking the next up in shaky hands, Rhys hoped for a better message.

_“ECHO 196. It happened again! I met him in the hallway today. He may not have noticed me, rushing about as busy as a man of his standing is, but I managed to retrieve a piece of his donut from the trash. It is a truly magical thing, now decorating my most beloved spot. Just yesterday, after I followed him to the bathrooms on this station, I…”_

Rhys nope-ed so hard, he threw the ECHO across the whole room, causing it to shatter into pieces after hitting the opposite wall.

…did that guy actually have a shrine of Jack? And here they were making fun of Rhys for having Hyperion-issued posters on his walls.  
The next ECHOs, fortunately, only consisted of information about weapon designs of models already in the product line, as well as improvement for bots. It was refreshing to actually hear why that man was such a renowned scientist, and why Jack kept him around despite his obvious weirdness.

_“ECHO 356. Oh my god, I met him today! Well, not him, not Jack personally, but his body double. Oh my, he looked just like him. It was a truly magical moment. He even talked to me! Oh, that voice like molten chocolate… Unfortunately our time together was cut short because of his group, with that big, vicious looking guy with the impressive beard shoving that massive body of his between us. Curse him. I made some investigations, and found some rather interesting things about this Mr. Lawrence, for example…”_

There was obviously no useful information on that thing either. Didn’t Jack say that Nakayama kept a lot of information about secret projects? The entire pile had only consisted of his diary like entries and outdated tech. Being as organized as he was, Rhys finished working through the whole pile before moving on to the next one in hope of actually finding something useful. Nakayama’s diary got weirder and weirder, his obsession growing to a level beyond creepy. He actually tried to woe Jack by putting flowers next to his office entrance and getting a claptrap to spray a love-message on his wall? Rhys never thought he would ever feel this embarrassed for someone else.

_“ECHO 521. Project X289. I’ve made great progress with the H.S.S. Terminus. Designed as the greatest battle ship Hyperion has ever created, I have designed a special weapon for protection. The ‘Slinger’ is a weapon, that – ”_

Finally a project related ECHO, but not the right one. That task had to be the worst one yet, Rhys might actually have preferred to clean Bullymong cages again. A guard brought him lunch, and Rhys settled back with his food in one hand and going through paperwork with the other. Three hours later his work still hadn’t revealed any important information. There were way too many messages about what kind of junk from Jack Nakayama had collected. Though some ECHOs proofed quite interesting, where he explained his progress with project X142, with the goal of making Jack invincible, and creating his digital copy in the process. It made Rhys understand the whole progress a bit better.

Once Rhys got to the other side of the room, he finally found useful information on the Crimson Raiders, the resistance group on Pandora, where they were and what damages they had done so far. Just when Rhys was beginning to lose all his hope, after the third time of having heard a message were Nakayama had created a massive monster and let it loose on Helios, he stumbled over it.

 _“ECHO 957. Project X267,”_ followed by a mechanical voice. **_“PASSWORD REQUIRED.”_**

Goddamnit! Just as he was about to gather actually useful information. Placing it at a clear spot on the table, Rhys worked his way through the whole rest, failing to come up with more. Seems like that was it. If there was more, Nakayama must have put it in a different place. Like his weird Jack-shrine. Rhys shuddered at the thought.

As if on cue, the guards came back into the room, instructing Rhys to hand over what he found before escorting him back.  
Back in his cell, he flopped down onto his mattress. The night that followed was restless, with images of Nakayama’s disturbing messages rushing through his mind.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Again two days passed without anything happening. Vaughn, Fiona and Rhys had tried to come up with ideas what could be behind project X267. It obviously had a connection to the Crimson Raiders, but they had no information to back that up.

It was midday when Rhys favorite guards came to pick him up.

“Hey boys, almost thought you forgot about me.” Rhys winked at them.

The guards looked on in their expressionless masks, while Fiona let out a long, annoyed sigh. “Oh my god Rhys, are you serious?” She shook her head when Rhys passed her, flashing her a smile.

By now Rhys already knew the way to Jack’s office by heart, so he simply made his way over with the guards casually walking behind him. Being left alone at the door, he crossed the small distance to his usual spot by the desk. There was even more stuff piling up on and beside it, with Jack sitting amidst the chaos, looking stressed out. It was more than obvious that he hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep for days, maybe weeks.

“Rhys, you’re a lucky man, because today you will have the honor of giving me a thorough rub down.”

“….I what?!”

Putting away an ECHO he had been reading, Jack looked up with an amused expression on his face, which would have had a devious look about it, if it weren’t for the dark circles under his eyes. His hair was a mess and his voice didn’t carry the usual sharpness to it. Putting it bluntly, Jack looked like shit.

“Well, not me, but me,” he said, while pointing over to the two golden statues decorating his office. “They have been neglected for way too long and gotten a bit…greasy.”

“Guess they now fit even better to their model.” Rhys was feeling rebellious, with Jack’s obvious exhaustion giving him a confidence boost. But that wasn’t the only reason. After the past days, were his group had almost been spoiled, he wanted to see how far he could go before Jack snapped. He threw Jack a defiant grin, waiting for a response that never came.

“Everything you need should be over there,” Jack said while pointing to a spot near the statues, where a small amount of cleaning supplies was gathered, while rubbing his temple with his other hand. “Get going.”

Not sparring Rhys another glance, he got back to working through the pile of papers before him. Baffled with the way Jack had responded, meaning not responded at all, Rhys couldn’t help the few seconds of starring at him with a furrowed brow, trying to figure out what the hell happened to the bastard he had gotten used to lately. It had a good side, though. At first the thought of working in Jack’s office with the man present had made him feel on edge. Although seeing the man now, how he looked like he would just fall over if he tried to get up, having no energy to spend on harassing Rhys, stilled his inner emotional turmoil.

Up close the statues really looked awfully greasy, making Rhys wonder why no one cleaned them considering they used to lead tourist groups through this office. The provided cleaning supplies only covered the basics, but would suffice. After picking up the cloth and squirting soap on it, Rhys faced the first statue, noticing a rather severe problem.

“Uhm, would you mind turning off the water?” Rhys called over to Jack. The waterfalls where still rushing over the statues, slightly splashing water over Rhys’ shoes.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little bit of water, cupcake. You’ve had worse fluids on you down on Pandora.”

“You want me to clean them while the water is still running?!”

“Did I stutter?” Jack didn’t even look up from his work, allowing Rhys to stare at him in disbelief once again with his mouth agape without Rhys having to feel embarrassed about it afterwards.

Alright. Getting soaked it is, because there was no way Rhys would strip in Jacks’ office. Everything but the shoes, those were set carefully aside where the skag-leather wouldn’t be drenched. Hoping there was nothing sharp on the bottom, Rhys carefully stepped up to the first statue, cringing slightly at the cool water drenching his socks and lower parts of his trousers. Fortunately, the statues hadn’t been abandoned for too long, so the dirt was easily cleaned away, with the constant stream of water helping to wash the grease away.

The lower parts of the statue were done in minutes, with Rhys only slightly cursing from time to time because of the water that splashed on his shirt. The upper parts were a different matter, though. There was nothing in sight that he could use to reach higher.

“Let me guess, you’re not giving me a ladder, either?” Rhys called over to Jack, who even looked up from his work. The bastard had a smile on his lips that was both amused and devious, revealing that he had been waiting for a question like this.

“Don’t tell me you’re too short for those tiny statues. Could have fooled me with those legs of yours.”

He should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. After a few seconds of shooting Jack a glare, Rhys rolled his eyes before getting back to work. Eying the statue revealed several spots he could use to climb, the top of the head being the only area he couldn’t reach so easily. By now Rhys knew he wouldn’t get out of this dry – or with his dignity intact. But the sooner he got out of this damned office the better, so he picked up the cloth he had thrown in a bucket next to his feet and started searching for a first step in climbing this golden abomination.

The statue was expertly crafted, which meant there were no small edges or elevations to help him keep his footing. His right foot had slipped 3 times before Rhys was able to find a spot good enough to allow him to put his weight on his leg to lift himself up. The sleeves of his shirt were already drenched, as well as the entire front where he had to press his chest to the statue to maintain balance. It was only a small victory when he managed to pull himself up high enough to reach the next spot for cleaning because he had to let go with one hand to actually rub away the grease. With his leg starting to protest after a short while of holding himself up in this hunched pose, Rhys was more than proud when he actually managed to clean the whole right shoulder of the statue. The swift end to his luck came when he tried to reach the next area, moving his left foot to the next spot, only to slip, loose his balance and fall down in a heap of flailing limbs. Water splashed up when he landed on his back, completely drenching every part of his clothes. Small groans echoed around the office as Rhys tried to lift himself back up into a sitting position, before rubbing his back and ass to ease the pain. The groans were soon overpowered by the thunderous laughter of Jack, who threw himself back in his chair, one hand clenching his belly.

“Oh my god, that was so good… Total 10/10!” The laughing continued for almost a minute, with Jack throwing himself forward on his desk and gasping for air before laughing again.

“Asshole,” Rhys muttered under his breath while standing up. He hadn’t even noticed that Jack had watched him the whole time, thinking Jack would immediately go back to his work. The laughter had died down, but could still be heard throughout the office, while Rhys tried to keep himself from being embarrassed by detaching his wet clothes from his body. After accepting the fact that there was nothing he could do to keep his already tight clothes from sticking to his body like he was participating in a wet T-Shirt contest, Rhys faced the statue anew, before he heard a slight scratching noise behind him.

Turning around, Rhys spotted Jack, who was in the middle of moving one of the chairs from his desk over to the statues.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Making myself comfortable for the best show in the house, of course. You know how it is, the first row seats are always the best.” Once the chair was in its intended position, Jack flopped down on it, crossing his arms over his chest and smirking at Rhys. “What are you waiting for? Up you go!”

You gotta be kidding me… Every time you thought Jack reached the peak of his asshole-ness, the guy came up with something new.

Caused by his clothes soaked with cold water, a slight shiver ran through Rhys, indicating that he shouldn’t stretch this out too long or he would pay the price afterwards. With that in mind, and trying to ignore the gaze boring into his back, he got back to his task. The cybernetic arm and the strength it possessed helped a great deal in getting him up again, even managing to hold on when he lost his footing two times. Jack laughed every time Rhys struck a funny pose while climbing, clapping when he made it safely across to the left side of the statue, as well as telling him all the spots he missed when cleaning.

The cold water kept rushing over him and now that he came higher, it was also splashing over his head and into his face. It not only messed up his hair completely, but also made everything way more difficult because he was unable to see the spots to hold on to. It was a miracle in itself that he even managed to keep himself from falling for ten seconds. Still, with all the struggling and fighting, the fall was inevitable. Jacks’ laugh filled the room once again, although not as bellowing as before. Pain shot up Rhys’ back when he tried to get up again, his hand coming up to rub a particularly throbbing spot. The laughter died down slowly, with Jack only exhaling through his nose several times, indicating it was still highly amusing to him, before he settled down with a slight smirk on his face.

Trying not to give Jack the satisfaction of getting him riled up over a job that was purely meant to get him riled up, Rhys once again stepped up to that golden waste of resources. Why the hell did Jack give him a task that he was meant to fail at and that could easily be done by a loader? Letting out a sigh, Rhys remembered that Jack had vowed to make his life a living hell, so the unachievable tasks were just part of a whole package.

While searching for a good way to reach the top of the statue, Rhys heard the water splashing slightly behind him, before a hand was placed on his shoulder, he was turned around and backed up, pressed against the statue.

“Let me help you with that,” was the last words he heard before his brain shut off completely when Jack closed the space between them, chest pressing against his and Jacks’ lips crushing against Rhys’ in a kiss. The kiss was hungry and demanding, with Jack pressing impossibly closer and gripping Rhys’ waist with his hands. Rhys crushed the cleaning cloth in his hand, holding onto it for dear life because it was the only thing making sense right now. It didn’t make sense how Jack went from laughing about him to sliding his tongue against his lips, begging for entrance. It didn’t make sense that Rhys let him have it without a second thought. It didn’t make sense how much Rhys enjoyed being this close to Jack after all that’s happened. It didn’t make sense that his heart skips a beat when Jack slides his hand to his lower back, pulling him even more against his body. It didn’t make sense how Jack had to swallow Rhys’ moan when Jack pressed their crotches together. Most of all, it didn’t make sense how mind-numbingly hard Rhys had become in these few moments.

A shiver ran down Rhys’ back from the contrast of the cold statue he was pressed against, with water rushing around him, and Jacks too warm and inviting body. Rhys broke the kiss in need of air, only able to make eye contact with Jack for two seconds before he begins trailing kisses up and down Rhys’ neck. He can’t suppress the moan from escaping when Jack begins to tongue along his tattoo, Rhys’ hands now finding their way to Jacks’ shoulders and gripping onto his jacket.

Jacks’ lips find their way back to Rhys’, enveloping them once again in a kiss. The water now rushes over both of them, making the kiss wet and drenching Jacks’ clothes just like his own. With both their clothes wet, the small barrier between their bodies seems to almost disappear, despite the many layers Jack has on, making Rhys’ heart beat fast with excitement. The moment Jacks’ hands slip down, groping Rhys’ ass, Rhys has to break away from the kiss, moaning against Jacks neck. The grinding of their crotches against each other drives Rhys insane, torn between wanting his release and wanting to drag this out as long as he can.

Both of them have closed their eyes, lips hovering against each other, sharing their breath. Rhys claws at Jacks’ back when one hand of the older man leaves his ass and moves to the front, forcefully grabbing his crotch and kneading it through the fabric. A small chuckle escapes Jacks’ throat at the sharp intake of breath from Rhys when he slowly unbuckles his belt as well as his fly.

The moment Jack gets his hand on Rhys’ dick Rhys knows he won’t be able to last long. It’s been too long since he was physical with anyone, and the cold surrounding him with Jack as the only source of heat he clings to is driving him insane. When Jacks’ hand begins to slowly slide up and down his shaft, Rhys resolve breaks and he lunges forward, his cybernetic arm wrapping around Jacks neck to bring him closer while his human hand threads through Jacks already messed up hair. With Rhys rushing to bring their lips back together, their teeth clank together when they meet; making the kiss awkward before Jack once again takes over and lets his tongue explore Rhys’ mouth.

Rhys can feel his climax approaching, clawing at Jack and leaning into the kiss. The hand on his dick works its magic, making Rhys’ heart race, threatening to break out of his chest. Once Jacks’ thumb slides over the slit, it’s all over. Rhys comes between them with Jack swallowing his desperate moans without breaking their kiss.

They end the kiss with Jack biting down sensually on Rhys’ lower lip. Their lips slowly separate, still connected by a string of saliva before it is washed away by the water still rushing over them. It takes a few long moments for Rhys to come back to his senses and slowly release his hold on Jack.

Of course, Jack is the one to break the silence. “Well, that was refreshing.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So first of all, I really love including stuff from the games!  
> Second, I really don't have a clue how it got into my head that there are waterfalls in Jacks office! I've played TFTBL and the Pre-Sequal so many times, yet somehow got it totally wrong. When I realised my mistake I already had this scene planned out in my head and couldn't get it out, so I wrote it anyways and hope we can all just pretend that there are waterfalls for whatever reason! :D
> 
> That was my first time writing anything close to smut, so I hope I did okay!
> 
> And of course thanks so much for all those lovely comments!!! I almost died of happyness every time! TT.TT ♥


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